1. Field of the Invention (Technical Field)
The present invention relates to methods and devices for electrosurgical electrolysis, including devices that operate in an electrolyzable medium, including an aqueous electrolyzable medium, by means of electrolysis and optionally by means of oxy-hydrogen combustion, together with electrolyzable media for use in treatment and therapeutic methods of electrolysis to effect advantageous tissue changes.
2. Description of Related Art
Note that the following discussion refers to a number of publications by author(s) and year of publication, and that due to recent publication dates certain publications are not to be considered as prior art vis-à-vis the present invention. Discussion of such publications herein is given for more complete background and is not to be construed as an admission that such publications are prior art for patentability determination purposes.
Electrosurgical methods and devices are used in many medical treatment settings. However, the use of electrosurgical methods and devices designed to specifically induce antimicrobial activity and healing responses during surgical procedures, and particularly to induce antimicrobial activity and healing responses by means only of electrolysis, has not been previously disclosed.
Although the need for inducing antimicrobial activity and healing responses is clear, to help the host organism respond to pathogens more effectively and further natural healing responses, the use of electrosurgical methods and devices have not been utilized in this arena due to misconceptions in the prior art regarding the electrosurgical phenomenon. Prior art has limited electrosurgical applications to cutting, ablation, coagulation, vaporization, and the like due to contentions in the prior art regarding the mechanism of electrosurgical physiochemical action. It has been considered that electrosurgical procedures exert their effects via the generation of a plasma or related form of ionizing radiation. Accordingly, methods and devices disclosed in the prior art relate to treatment effects such as cutting, ablation, coagulation, and vaporization due to the effects of such purported ionizing radiation energy. Certainly, utilizing plasma or ionizing radiation to induce effects other than that of cutting, ablation, coagulation, and vaporization would not be and has not been conceived. Therefore, it has not been contemplated in the prior art that there are further uses of electrosurgical methods and devices, particularly those relating to antimicrobial or tissue healing effects due to electrolysis.
As disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/119,671, the electrosurgical process is governed by electrolysis and oxy-hydro combustion. This understanding allows for additional novel uses of electrosurgical methods and devices that have heretofore been unrecognized.
Disclosed herein are methods and devices designed to induce antimicrobial activity and healing responses during treatment procedures that utilize the understanding of the electrosurgical physiochemical process induced by the application of electromagnetic energy to the treatment locale, namely electrolysis and oxy-hydro combustion.